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College Student Life: What to Expect.

College student life may take some adjusting at first, but it can be lived successfully!

Every college student knows that time is limited. The great thing about time is that we all have the same amount of it.

The question is how to spend it as a college student!

The Good News About College Student Life

The good news is that the way you spend your life as a college student is up to you. The choices you make are 100% your responsibility!

No one will be making sure you come to class, do your homework, get enough sleep, eat right, get up for class on time, or get good grades.

It's all in how you choose to live your college life.

With that said, take 100% responsibility for your choices. Don't make excuses (I know this is easier said than done sometimes)! Just do your best with what you have.

If you aren't doing well in school, take responsibility for that and change whatever it is you need to in order to do better. Get the information you need to make good decisions, and then make them!

This is great news because you get to choose what you want out of life! It is your choice! Choose wisely!

College Student Life and School Stuff

When it comes to school and student life, there are a few things that you'll want to be sure to do.

First, make life fun! There is so much more to do in college than just study. There are extracurricular activities, specific interest groups, organizations, service activities, sporting events, and other school activities to get involved in.

These are great places to make new friends and get involved in activities that build school spirit and are fun at the same time.

An easy way to get involved is to have a curiosity about these things as you are on campus. There are always signs, fliers, posters, booths, and other things giving information about how to get involved.

Get involved in those you are most interested in and enjoy what you learn from participating.

Next, there is the studying part of college student life. It is recommended(i.e. not always necessary) to spend 2 hours studying outside of class for every hour spent in class.

So, if you have 4 classes 3 times per week, each lasting 1 hour, then that means you need to be spending 24 hours (4x3x2) per week just studying for those classes.

While this would help anyone get good grades, I personally don't know anyone who spends that much time (or has that much time) studying every week for class. For me, this hasn't been necessary for every class!

I am all for doing your best and getting good grades. But, you will need to learn to gauge how much time to spend studying for each class.

Some classes will be harder and more involved, thus requiring more time and effort. Others won't be as time consuming.

An easy way to gauge how much time you should spend studying for each class is by your homework scores. If you are scoring low on homework, then spend more time studying for that class.

By using homework scores as a gauge, you'll know what you need to improve on before you take any tests!

College Student Life and Out of School Stuff

Life out of school is just as important to manage as life in school. Your work, hobbies, family and friend relationships, and other interests need to be attended to as well.

When it comes to working as a college student, you'll most likely have a part-time job. This means 20-25 hours a week.

If you need a job to survive as a college student, then make sure that you build good relationships with your boss and co-workers. This way you'll always have a job, and when you need time off for school related activities you'll be more likely to get it.

Family relationships are important to keep alive. This is especially important if your family is supporting you financially through college. Just remember to give a call home every week or so (or more often if you feel necessary) to give an update of your life as a college student.

During this phone call, you can also get an update on what your family is up to. This will make coming home easier if you are going to school far away from home.

Making friends and dating are great to do in college. Making friends in every class, joining new groups, participating in school sponsored activities, and being active as a college student will help you enjoy your college years a lot more.

Be socially involved! It is definitely more fun and good for you mentally and emotionally. You'll be glad you are, especially during the more stressful times of college student life.

Achieving Balance

Balance in college student life requires knowing what you want and then doing what it takes to get it. Understand what you want most from your college life. Certain activities will have to take priority over others. That's just how life is!

Know your priorities and then plan to do the best you can with the time you have. A good time to schedule when and where you will do the things you need to do is at the beginning of each week, like Sunday evening.

First, write down what you need & want to do that week. Then, prioritize these by labeling them numerically, 1 being most important. Next, get a calendar or planner and write down your class schedule and work schedule for the week.

Then, plan exactly when and where you are going to do your # 1 item. Then, plan exactly when and where you are going to do # 2. And so on with the rest.

Doing this will help you accomplish what you want and need to in your busy college student life.

Will you be able to do everything your want to? Probably not. Things come up and life happens to everyone. But that is why you make certain things priority over others.

Something else you can do to keep life interesting and happy as a college student is to serve someone everyday. Just do one thing to help someone else. The Boy Scouts of America have a slogan that says "Do a Good Turn Daily".

This is good advice for anyone and will help you keep a good perspective on life in general as a college student.